Roles and Characteristics of Leaders and Managers in an Organization

This document discusses the roles and characteristics of leaders and managers in an organization, focusing on TESCO Plc. It explains the difference between a leader and a manager and their respective responsibilities. It also explores the role of leaders and managers in different situational contexts and discusses various theories and models of leadership approaches. Additionally, it highlights the importance of operations management and the role of managers and leaders in achieving business goals and objectives.

Part 1 and Part 2

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
Part 1................................................................................................................................................3
Define different roles and characteristics of leader and manager in an organisation.................3
Difference between leader and manager.....................................................................................5
Role of leaders and manager's functions in different situational context....................................6
Different theories and models of approaches..............................................................................8
Part 2................................................................................................................................................9
Important approaches of operations management and role of managers and leaders in it..........9
Importance and value of operations management to achieve business goals and objectives. . .10
Impact of business environment factors on operational management and decision making of
leaders and managers................................................................................................................11
CONCLUSION..............................................................................................................................11
REFERENCES..............................................................................................................................12
Books and Journals:..................................................................................................................12

INTRODUCTION
Management refers to a process of managing operations in a business organisation in
order to assure smooth running of a business. Operations in a business are refers to day to day
operations of an organisation to achieve its objectives and goals. Management includes various
persons who are responsible for management of operations in an organisation. They are
classified by different names in respect of their quality and role in an organisation that are
leaders and managers. TESCO Plc. is a groceries and general products retailer established in UK.
It operates in seven countries across Asia and Europe and became third largest in world in terms
of its gross revenues (Monteiro, Hopkins and Melo, 2020). This report contains organisational
structure of TESCO and defines different roles and characteristics of a leader and a manager. It
also helps to understand various leadership style with help of different leadership theories and
approaches. Second part of this report contains various business environment which impact on
decision making of leaders as well as managers.
Part 1
Define different roles and characteristics of leader and manager in an organisation
Management plays an important role in effective and efficient working of an
organisation. In respect of TESCO, it is a multinational company whose organisational structure
works in three levels that are top level, mediate level as well as base level. All these level
contains managers and leaders for organisation who has different roles in organisation to play
(Delanoy and Kasztelnik, 2020). So many times leader and manager is used interchangeably but
in real they both have their own different roles in an organisation and are different to each other.
They both are explained below in detail.
Leader: Leader is a person who is responsible in maintaining efficiency in an
organisation and provide guide to employees to move towards vision of organisation. Leader
helps an organisation to achieve their mission as well as vision of an organisation. The main
focus of a leader should be on building healthy relations with employees and motivate them in
achieving organisational objectives. In respect of TESCO, employees which are responsible to
handle and command different teams of organisations are considered as leaders for organisations.
Managers: Managers are part of management of an organisation and responsible for
major decision making of a business. They formulate plans, policies, norms, strategies for

operational activities of business which should be followed by leaders and other employees of
organisation. In respect of TESCO, those employee of organisation are considered as managers
who are responsible to guide and instruct leaders about plans, policies and strategies of
organisation. They also assign them task to be accomplished by teams of respective leaders
(Gürlek and Çemberci, 2020).
Role of leader
Innovative vision: In such a competitive market it is important for organisation to be
innovative and creative. This task can be accomplished if leader has innovative ideas to be
applied in production and other functions of an organisation. It is responsibility of a leader to
guide their employees with new ideas in order to complete the task in efficient manner. In
context of TESCO, leaders provide better opportunities to employees to give their ideas for
better functioning and effective decision making in an organisation.
Provide training and guidance: Necessary training to be provided to employees is
responsibility of a leader. Leader is solely responsible for training and development of
employees in order to make them work in organisation in an effective manner. In context of
TESCO, they provide an efficient training to their employees in order to develop their skills
which motivates them to perform their work in efficient manner. It also helps the organisation to
increase productivity of employees.
Characteristics of leaders
Delegation of work: TESCO is a large organisation and requires delegation of work with
proper authority and responsibility. Leaders are provided a task which should be completed by
them with their team. Leader has the ability to delegate that work to employees in such a manner
that it is accomplished by a person who is good at it. Proper and planned delegation helps to
achieve objectives in an efficient manner (Kim, 2020).
Effective Communicator: Effective communication is essential to communicate work to
employees in efficient manner. Leader is responsible to communicate work to employees and
possess a quality of effective communication. In TESCO it is essential for leaders to have an
effective communication and with span of time they develop their skills and became an effective
communicator.
Role of Managers

Provide authorisation: Managers are authorized to delegate their authority and
responsibility. In order to provide duty to employees it is essential to give some necessary
authority for completion of that duty. In TESCO managers formulate policies which provides
guidelines to leaders about authorities they are authorised in order to accomplish a particular
task.
Develop policies: Managers are responsible to make policies in an organisation. As they
are responsible for all the management of an organisation they formulate policies which contains
general guidelines to be followed in organisation ( McMullin and Raggo, 2020). Managers hold
a place after a lot of experience in such field and able to formulate policies for an organisation's
betterment. In case of TESCO the higher level management which consists of various committee
of organisation is responsible for formulation of policies.
Characteristics of manager:
Time management: Time management is an essential skill which is required to be a
manager. Mangers are responsible to assign duties with target of time which requires time
management skills to understand time needed to complete a particular task. In TESCO, all
employees complete their assigned task in real time because they are provided training from their
managers regarding time management. They also set goals fro accomplishing organisational
objectives and achieve them in assigned time.
Effective communication: Skill of effective communication includes sending or
receiving a message effectively with less scope of miscommunication. Managers holds a position
where a small miscommunication can put an organisation in loss. Hence effective
communication is an essential characteristic to became a manger. In TESCO, mangers are very
well skilled and have good as well as effective communication skills.
Difference between leader and manager
Basis Leader Manager
Role Leader plays an essential role
in an organisation in order to
support and guide their
employees to work effectively
and efficiently with new ideas
Managers have control on
administrative functions and
perform major functions of
management like planning,
staffing, organising and

and methods for maintaining
efficiency.
controlling. They also assure
and check that roles and
responsibilities of employees
are clear to them.
Characteristics Leaders of TESCO are
influential as they have
charismatic quality and good
communication skills which
attracts and motivate
employees to perform in better
manner.
Managers at TESCO are good
at management as organisation
has a higher level of
management. They have good
time management skills which
helps them to achieve their
goals in an efficient manner.
Role of leaders and manager's functions in different situational context.
TESCO is a large multinational organisation which requires efficient and excellent
managers as well as leaders to fulfil their organisational objectives and goals. In dynamic
business environment it is essential to have quality to survive in market with good decision
making power to take opportunities from market (Jamieson and Donald, 2020). Any conflict
arise in an organisation is required to solved in a manner that satisfies both the parties. In order
to solve all these problems leaders and managers played an essential role. Their role in solving
problem in various situations are explained below:
Situation 1: Effective management in complex situation: Dynamic business environment
sometimes create various complex situations which requires proper and effective management to
resolve them. Those situations can arise internally or externally. Sometimes change in demand
and needs of customers which gives decrease in sales and results in low profits can be a complex
situation for organisation to deal with. In this situations leader and managers both plays an
important role to assist organisation in such situation. The manageres and leaders of TESCO
performs following roles in this situation:
Role of a Leader
 The leader of TESCO first analyse the whole situate and evaluate reasons for the same
and then find solution to overcome from that problem.

 In order to minimise this possibility of risk in future leaders need to analyse situations on
regular basis. Leader take effective decisions for such situation which is good for both
employees as well as organisation.
Functions of manager
 TESCO is enjoying a major leadership in markets of UK and to deal with complex
situation they always like to keep record for situations that arise in retail industry and
solution of resolving those situations to use them if such situation occur in TESCO. It is manager's duty to keep employees motivated and in context of TESCO, employees
are always motivated no matter what the situation is and perform their work in effective
and efficient manner. Managers of TESCO follows policy to provide rewards and
appreciation to their employees to keep them motivated (Ellis and Abbott, 2020).
Situation 2: New product launch: Whenever a company decides to launch its new
product the work increase in an organisation which needs to be properly managed. In order to
achieve targets it is essential to work as a team. In TESCO, leaders and managers are always
dedicated to give their best and use best of their knowledge and skills for every project of
organisation. Role of both managers and leaders in TESCO is given below when company is
going to launch its new product (Best, 2020).
Role of Leader:
 Leaders assure that products are to be produced or offered to customers in efficient
manner and prepare report to be circulated in market. They are responsible to see details of pre as well as post- launch of products. They need
to communicate in effective manner if any issue arises in launch of new product.
Role of managers:
 Managers needs to perform various functions in an organisation like to check packaging,
to decide strategies for promotion and cost, sales and margin for product.
 The most important function of manager in this context is to manage all functions in
systematic manner which can be achieved from effective planning. Managers of TESCO
always plan better to accomplish their objectives.

Different theories and models of approaches
Businesses face many complex and difficult situations and ability to manage them shows
their level of success in market. In TESCO management applies various theories and approaches
of leadership in such a manner in order to motivate employees towards execution of various plan
of organisation. It is suggested that the problems has many solutions what needed is to identify
the best possible manner to solve that problem. In TESCO managers identify and analyse the
problems faced by retail industry and afterwards prepare its report with possible solutions which
helps them to overcome the problem in a rapid manner. They discuss the problem with
employees and consider their solution if appropriate for that problem. This method helps TESCO
to keep their employees motivated and make them feel connected with the organisation. Leaders
helps to engage employees and update them about the trends which are followed in organisation
to work in accordance of that. Various leadership theories are given below:
Situational Leadership: According to this theory, every leader react differently on every
situation. Reaction of Leader varies from person to person for a same situation. It is not
practically possible to get same leadership style with every situation. It states that No leadership
style is perfect, every leader leads its team according to situations in front of them. There are
many ways to deal with many situations of an organisation. Leaders of TESCO Sir Terry Leahy
leadership is followed in TESCO. There models are given below:
 The strategies and decisions are conveyed to employees to make them feel connected,
motivated and remove barriers of work as they can work accordingly.
 Under this model leaders of TESCO tries to communicate their ideas with their groups to
make them understand the task in efficient manner and complete it on time.
 In this model some authority is delegated to groups to take necessary decisions in somke
context which are essential to complete a task. Various ideas and feedbacks are taken from employees to motivate them.
System Leadership: System Leadership is used by making predictions in mind about
trends of industry to understand a task in better manner. In TESCO employees are guided by
giving real life situations and make them understand the ways to deal with it. Guidelines are to
be set earlier to complete task which helps employees in decision making in the policies and
strategies proves beneficial for completing that particular task.

Contingency Leadership: This approach states that the leadership style followed by a leader is
contingent in different situations. This theory assumes that effectiveness of a leader is contingent
no matter that their style of leadership suits a particular condition or not. This theory states that a
leader can be effective leader for one situation but ineffective leader for another situation. In
order to be an effective leader, a leader must analyse the situation first and then decide whether
their leadership style suits their leadership or not.
Part 2
Important approaches of operations management and role of managers and leaders in it.
Operational management refers to the management of day to day activities which are
related to operations of a business organisation. TESCO is an organisation which operates in
seven countries and decide to expand it more which requires to manage its operations
appropriately (Glatter, 2020). Operation function is an important function of management as it
includes the main production. The quality of product decides the value of organisation in
competitive market as it satisfy the needs of customer with quality of product. TESCO uses
various approaches of operational management which are given below: Total Quality Management: It can be termed as the approach that incorporates the overall
organisational endeavours to establish a particular surrounding wherein the respective
employees of the organisation try to alleviate their capabilities to provide the best required
quality for the consumers of the company. It is one of most enhanced approach as it involves
encouraging the service quality for the consumers so as to provide them with the best
organisational experience. TESCO also capitalises on this approach in order to persuade the
employees working under the organisation to meet the demands of the target customers in
the business environment.
 Lean Production: It is a approach adopted by the organisation so as to cut down the
waste generated from the production and manufacturing of the products and services
offered by the organisation in the target market. TESCO is a multinational organisation
that also utilises this approach to downsize the unnecessary waste from the workplace
and to enhance the quality of the products and services generated by the concerned
organisation so as to acquire higher profits and revenues in the market domain. It also
helps the company to reduce and cut down the ineffective cost incurred on the facilitation
of unrequited operations and functions.

In order to achieve these approaches of Operational management the managers and leaders of
TESCO plays an important role which are discussed below: Provide Directions: The managers and leaders provides the right direction to the goals of
the organisation by providing guidance to the employees or the workforce providing their
services in the organisation. The leaders are responsible for directing the employees in a
way that motivate the same to work towards the common goals of the company and
complete the assigned tasks effectively and with full efficiency.
 Bring Excellence: The managers and leaders are also expected to bring excellence i9n
the work operations of the employees by providing them with the right training and
development opportunities wherein they can enhance and raise their standard of
performance. Tesco highly concentrates in enhancing the excellence of its employees by
providing them with advanced level skill and training enhancement so as to motivate the
same to bring out their beast performance and increase the potential for acquiring
excellence in their respective line of work (Benson, Sharp and Macphie, 2020).
Importance and value of operations management to achieve business goals and objectives
Operation management have all its focus on effective as well as efficient working of an
organisation in production to attain economies of scale. In order to expand its store in other
countries TESCO requires operational management. For such expansion organisation needs to
arrange all operations and functions of organisation in an appropriate as well as systematic
manner. The various values and importance of operational management is given below: Process design: The operational management is responsible for the designing the
business process responsible for carrying out the business activities and functions in
accordance and alignment of a predetermined set of procedures. Designing the process
for the functioning of the business operations is not an easy task, TESCO needs to make
sure that the business process formulated by the same is feasible, attainable and relevant
in nature so as to eliminate the chances of disruptions. The operation team of Tesco is
very talented and the process designed developed by them is very feasible which allows
the smooth functioning of the company as well. Customer Satisfaction: The operational management is important so as to ensure that the
customers queries and concerns regarding the quality and other attributed of the offerings

are solved and fulfilled to the best of the capability. Without the support of operational
management team, it can be really difficult for TESCO to meet up the expectations of its
regular as well as new customers and to satisfy the same productively. Cost reduction: The operations management is a process of the company wherein the
cost reduction function can be applied with full accuracy and appropriateness. It allows
TESCO to reduce the cost incurred for the regulation of particular function and helps the
company to of the same with least expenditure so as to increase the profitability of the
company. Cost reduction by operations team can also lead increased savings which in
turn can be utilised by the company to invest in the upcoming profitable ventures.
 Control and Design system : The operations management in TESCO is responsible for
regulating and monitoring the business functions and is allows to aplly the control
measures wherever any deviation is detected so as to reduce the possibilities of errors and
inaccuracy in the functions performed by the same in the business organisation. The
department is responsible for designing a control system so as to monitor and regulate the
alterations required in order to encourage the current functioning of the respective
organisation (Berkovich and Bogler, 2020).
Impact of business environment factors on operational management and decision making of
leaders and managers.
Business environment refers to all the internal as well as external factors which have impact on
business of an organisation. If this factor is internal then it is considered as internal environment
and if it is generated from external sources then it is external environment for organisation. It is
essential to have knowledge of these factors with their impact to cope up with it. The factors that
have an impact on business environment of an organisation are given below:
Competition: - Competition can be considered to be one of the major factors that affect
the operations of the leaders and mangers working in the Tesco organisation. Being a
global enterprise is not an easy task, Tesco needs to analyse and evaluate the moves of its
competitors as well as the rivals in the marketplace. Leaders needs to implement advance
and creative plans in order to attain a competitive edge in the market domain and to lead
the management functions effectively.
Legal factors: - There numerous legal laws that have been formulated by the institutional
authorities so as to guide the actions and behaviours of the business organisation. Tesco’s

leaders and mangers also need to facilitate their decision making according the laws and
acts set by the authorities in order reduce the possibilities of legal action or intervention
in the business operations of the concerned entity.
It can be stated that factors and forces existing in the business environment have major
implication on the decision making abilities of the managers as well as leaders working in
Tesco. These factors are required to assessed and monitor consistently so as to leverage
from the same and to regulate good decision making practices within the organisational
setting.
CONCLUSION
From considering all the data of report it is concluded that leaders and managers which
are used interchangeably are different from each other and plays different roles and functions in
management as well as operations of an organisation. There are several models, theories and
approaches which defines various leadership styles in an organisation. Leaders and managers
also helps in operation management and helps to achieve goals and objectives of an organisation.
The dynamic business environment put its impact on decision makin and operations management
of leaders and managers.

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